Jordan, Japan sign USD 12.6 mln grant agreement for water sector

AMMONNEWS - The Jordanian and Japanese governments have inked an additional grant agreement worth USD 12.6 million to finance a water network expansion project in Al-Balqa governorate, west of Jordan.

In a news statement following the signing of the deal, Jordan's Minister of Planning Emad Al-Fakhouri said it is the second grant deal allocated to complete the project whose first phase was also funded by Japan in 2014 at USD 20 million.

Al-Fakhouri expressed his country's gratitude and appreciation to Japan for its understanding that Amman isfacing social and economic challenges due to hosting of about 1.4 million Syrian refugees.

For his part, Japanese Ambassador in Amman Shuichi Sakurai hoped that this deal would better services in thecountry so as to get clean water.

The deal was signed by Al-Fakhuri, and Sakurai and Chief Representative of Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Office in Amman Tsutoma Kobayashi.

According to official figures, Jordan has obtained from Japan about USD 1.3 billion in soft loans, grants andtechnical assistance.